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What are ways to search an unsorted list of strings using the Python class libraries? (Check all that apply.)
Write the list to a file so that it will be searchable. Sort the list using sort() and then perform a binary search over it using bisect.bisect_left(). Convert the strings to integers first, then search them. It cannot be done. Perform a sequential search over the list using a loop. (order shuffled)
If you perform a binary search on a list of one million integers, which of the following is closest to the number of elements that the search algorithm will need to examine?
all 1,000,000 of the integers roughly 3/4 (750,000) of the integers roughly half (500,000) of the integers roughly 1/10 (100,000) less than 1% (10,000 or fewer)
Should you use a sequential or binary search on a list of strings, and why?
Use binary search if the list is sorted; otherwise you must use sequential search. Use binary search on unsorted lists, and sequential search on sorted lists. Sequential search should always be used because it is faster. Binary search should be used as long as the strings are all in lowercase so they can be compared. (order shuffled)
Why does the binary search algorithm require the input to be sorted?
Because of a bug in the Python standard libraries. Because all searching requires sorted input. Because a list is not a valid collection to search; instead a different collection should be used that forces sorting. Sorted lists are easier to search because the searching algorithm only needs to look at the first element to see if the target value will be present. Because it uses the ordering to jump to the next index, so if the elements are out of order, the search won't find the target element. (order shuffled)
How many elements at most does a binary search examine if the list contains 60 elements?
1 3 6 10 15 30 60

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